UN Women holding tech sector accountable for online harassment of women

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 18/02/2025

As technology mediates more of our daily lives, it is also being weaponised to harm women and girls in new and alarming ways. Although not a new phenomenon, technology-facilitated gender-based violence has surged rapidly in recent years, posing serious threats to the safety and well-being of women and girls everywhere, UN Women says in a statement.

The organisation states that governments and the technology sector must tackle this threat and do more to protect women’s rights in the digital era. This includes developing and implementing laws and holding the tech industry accountable by establishing transparency and accountability standards on digital violence and the use of data across digital platforms.

“What starts as online abuse can swiftly spiral into danger that extends beyond screens and borders, making it impossible for many women to feel safe at home, work, or in public spaces.”

“The digital revolution has both exacerbated existing forms of gender-based violence (such as sexual harassment, stalking, hate speech, misinformation, defamation, and impersonation) and created new forms of abuse (such as hacking, astroturfing, video and image-based abuse including deepfakes, doxing, cyberbullying, and online grooming among others).”

“Millions of women and girls are affected by digital abuse and technology facilitated violence every year. Studies suggest that between 16 and 58% of women have experienced this type of violence.” 

UN Women says that data from different regions confirm that technology-facilitated violence against women happens everywhere: 

• Arab States: 60% of women internet users have experienced online violence. 
• Eastern Europe and Central Asia: research across 12 countries found that more than 50% of women over 18 years old have experienced some form of technology-facilitated abuse in their lifetime.  
• Sub-Saharan Africa: A study of five countries found that 28% of women had experienced online violence.  
• Europe and the USA: A survey of women aged 18 – 55 in Denmark, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA found that 23% of women reported at least one experience of online abuse or harassment.

“Sexual harassment and stalking are the most commonly reported forms of technology-facilitated violence experienced by women and girls. Image-based abuse (sharing intimate photos without consent), unwanted messages, social media posts, and phone calls are the most frequently used tactics for sexual harassment.” 

Other forms of abuse that women and girls face include cyberbullying, hate speech, sexual exploitation, defamation, intimate image-sharing, sextortion, revenge porn.

While all women and girls may experience digital abuse, online violence, or technology-facilitated gender-based violence, some groups are at greater risk, the UN Women statement says:  

• Young women and girls: One global study found that 58%of girls and young women have experienced some form of online harassment.  
• Women who face multiple forms of discrimination: Women with disabilities, Black and indigenous women and other women of colour, migrant women, and LGBTIQ+ people all face higher risks of digital violence.  
• Women in political and public life: Human rights defenders, activists, journalists and lawmakers face increased rates of violence both online and offline too. A UNESCO study found that 73% of women journalists experienced online violence in the course of their work. The Inter-Parliamentary Union found that 58% of African women parliamentarians had experienced online attacks.